Written by Nuzhat Fatima and Elaha Walizadeh
October marks the celebration of black history in the UK, known as Black History Month. Many institutions across the country organize events to raise awareness about the struggles and achievements of black people. The month kicked off with a great start, in part because of the hard work of Malia Bouattia, the NUS (National Union of Students) Black Students’ Officer. However, the occasion was turned into yet another month of struggle through racial abuse and blatant discrimination directed against Malia and the National Black Students’ Campaign.
About a month ago, NUS NEC (National Executive Council) representative Daniel Cooper proposed a motion, which can be read below, to condemn ISIS. Malia declined to support the motion which was then rejected by the NEC as well. It was a democratic procedure, as most NEC members voted against it.
The Motion: Iraqi/Kurdish solidarity
Proposed: Daniel Cooper Seconded: Shreya Paudel, Clifford Fleming
NUS National Executive Committee notes:
The ongoing humanitarian crisis and sectarian polarisation in Iraq – which has resulted in thousands of Yazidi Kurds being massacred.
NUS NEC believes
1. That the people of Iraq have suffered for years under the sectarian and brutally repressive dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, the US/UK invasion and occupation, the current sectarian regime linked to both the US and Iran, and now the barbaric repression of the “Islamic State” organisation.
2. That rape and other forms of sexual violence are being used as weapons against women in IS-occupied areas, while minorities are being ethnically cleansed.
NUS NEC resolves
1. To work with the International Students’ Campaign to support Iraqi, Syrian and other international students in the UK affected by this situation.
2. To campaign in solidarity with the Iraqi people and in particular support the hard-pressed student, workers’ and women’s organisations against all the competing nationalist and religious-right forces.
3. To support Iraqis trying to bridge the Sunni-Shia divide to fight for equality and democracy, including defence of the rights of the Christian and Yazidi-Kurd minorities.
4. To condemn the IS and support the Kurdish forces fighting against it, while expressing no confidence or trust in the US military intervention.
5. Encourage students to boycott anyone found to be funding the IS or supplying them with goods, training, travel or soldiers.
6. To make contact with Iraqi and Kurdish organisations, in Iraq and in the UK, in order to build solidarity and to support refugees.
7. To issue a statement on the above basis.
While some believe there is nothing Islamophobic about the motion, the NUS Black Students Campaign believes: “The concern was point 5 being vague. There isn’t a formal system/organisation who monitors what organisations or which people fund or support ISIS, we didn’t want to leave this open to guess work/islamophobia. As there is a dangerous history of organisations going under cover on campuses and spying on Muslim students with the excuse that they are just making sure their aren’t doing anything terrorist. We decided to have a clearer motion that condemned ISIS AND wouldn’t imply that we support that behavior on campus. Students that have had experiences of witnessing innocent Muslim students being targeted on campus saw that this was an issue and wanted to bring forward the motion with clearer wording at the next meeting. The formatting of this new motion to condemn ISIS has been happening since.”
The whole story has been distorted by independent news outlets, and has also been picked up by more mainstream media. Founder and former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson mentioned Malia in a public tweet, which tagged her twitter account. Robinson described Malia as an ‘Arab’ student rather than a British Student, indicating the isolation of black students. Malia holds a strong track record regarding campaigns for black and ethnic minority students in the UK such as the Black Women’s Forum, Birmingham-based Black Ethnic Minority Association (BEMA) and Defend Education Birmingham.
It is easy to escape the reasoning behind Malia’s bold yet arguably necessary decision and simply focus on sensationalist headlines. The idea that every Muslim has to publicly condemn the actions of ISIS is absurd. This focus not only plays a huge role in the Islamophobic rhetoric but also continues to aggravate tensions in our society. Christians do not regularly publicly condemn slavery, and neither do we expect them to. So why is it that we continuously expect Muslims to condemn the actions of a minority? Why is it acceptable to push Muslims to keep apologising for the acts of minority extremists? As Malcolm X once stated, ” If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”
In the current hostile social climate we keep seeing a strong anti-Muslim message, which embeds within our consciousness. The backlash that has followed Malia and her decision is absolutely horrific, including death and rape threats. By refusing to be an apologist for the acts of ISIS, Malia’s message has been distorted by news outlets such as The Tab and further attempts to scapegoat her. It is time that we stood up for what we believe in and stop apologising. Of course this does not mean that we do not show solidarity with our Kurdish brothers and sisters. We must, however, stop fuelling these passive aggressive motions that as a whole contribute to the Islamophobic paradigm that has been created by the media.
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